Limited Resources Induce Bistability in Microtubule Length Regulation

The availability of protein is an important factor for the determination of the size of the mitotic spindle. Involved in spindle-size regulation is kinesin-8, a molecular motor and microtubule (MT) depolymerase, which is known to tightly control MT length. Here, we propose and analyze a theoretical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2018-04, Vol.120 (14), p.148101-148101, Article 148101
Main Authors: Rank, Matthias, Mitra, Aniruddha, Reese, Louis, Diez, Stefan, Frey, Erwin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bistability
Depolymerization
Molecular motors
Proteins
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Summary:The availability of protein is an important factor for the determination of the size of the mitotic spindle. Involved in spindle-size regulation is kinesin-8, a molecular motor and microtubule (MT) depolymerase, which is known to tightly control MT length. Here, we propose and analyze a theoretical model in which kinesin-induced MT depolymerization competes with spontaneous polymerization while supplies of both tubulin and kinesin are limited. In contrast to previous studies where resources were unconstrained, we find that, for a wide range of concentrations, MT length regulation is bistable. We test our predictions by conducting in vitro experiments and find that the bistable behavior manifests in a bimodal MT length distribution.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.148101